jsmith

FYI, from a Hertz rental agreement in the UK:
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VIOLATION OF TRAFFIC REGULATIONS
You are fully responsible for all fines and any consequences of the violation of traffic regulations and parking orders or prohibitions during the rental. If Hertz is required to pay such fines, you agree that we may debit your credit or charge card during the rental or after the return of the vehicle with the amount of any fine plus an administrative charge of 10% of the fine(s) or 20 GBP whichever is greater. We shall, upon request, supply you with a copy of any traffic violation notice which we receive.
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I would expect the rental agreements in other countries and for other rental companies say the same.

I don't know if the laws in Finland have changed since Feb. 2004 when this took place but:
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Finn's speed fine is a bit rich

It is not just Finland's successful rally drivers who put their feet down
One of Finland's richest men has been handed a record 170,000 euros speeding ticket, thanks to the country's policy of relating the fine to your income.
Jussi Salonoja, the 27-year-old heir to a family-owned sausage empire, was given the £116,000 ticket after being caught driving 80km/h in a 40km/h zone.

Helsinki police came up with the figure after tax office data showed that Mr Salonoja earned close to £7m in 2002.

If his penalty stands it will beat the previous record of almost 80,000 euros.
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Sounds loke a good approach.

hopscotch

I was photographed in Germany. As a matter of policy the photo is not sent with the notice but you have the right to a copy of the photo. Request the photo. If it is you, pay.

AR

Is it just us Brits that are intrinsically dishonest (and I'm sure some pious Brits will jump on me)? If you were to ask this question in any pub or other such gathering in the UK, the resounding answer from 99% would be - let them whistle for their money and fantastic if you got away with it. I think many would be astonished at the honesty on here with people saying "pay up". Perhaps it is because of the proliferation of speed cameras in the UK and the perception of them as income generators rather than safety.

PLEASE NOTE - This is an observation and not necessarily my own view. I think both your honesty and integrity does you all credit.

Nina66

deano... when a ticket is issued moving or parking, it has the time, date, location, license number, make, model, 2 dr., 4 dr., and in SF at least, the color of the vehicle.

If your ticket/letter contains this information then it is probably valid. No one, no matter where they work or what records they have access to, could possibly know exactly where you were at any given moment.

If you picked up the car in Rome and returned it in Milan, absolutely no one would have any way of knowing where you drove it, or if you just drove around the block continuously for the entire rental period. All they could possibly know is the beginning and the ending mileage.

If it doesn't contain the above info, only the description of the car and/or license number, and your contact information, I would consider it a scam and forget about it or report it to someone, possibly the rental agency, but don't expect any investigative help from them.

If it is phoney, I would suspect a hotel along the way or someone in the car rental system was the perpetrator of a scam.

Nina

Nina66

I think that the English translation might read,

"High from Italy. You were speeding, please send a lot of money. Ciao"

Nina

SeaUrchin

My first thought would be that it is a scam from the rental agency. Which company is it, do they have an office in the USA? I would get complete confirmation that it is legit before I would pay.

A rental company scammed us one time, adding on charges after we signed out with them in Italy and after we arrived home. They were totally phony charges, we finally got it taken off the charge but it wasn't easy. The agencies have the means right in front of them to scam you.

nona1

Going a bit off the point here but you might be amused by this news story from the UK http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....ed_camera.html

RufusTFirefly

Wow, they go to a lot of effort to find the actual driver of a car in the UK! That's great from the justice standpoint (get the real culprit), but it could sure soak up a lot of police officer time investigating a relatively minor offense.

gbachlondon

I have been back from Italy for 9 months and yesterday received a similar certified letter from Pisa police department. It stated that when we visited Pisa we had driven into a restricted zone. We have no recollection of this, however it was nine months ago and we were in Pisa a total 2 hours. I remember two traffic cops blocking traffic and directing all traffic to the only road available. We also were given information to wire 110 euro fine to a bank account. Now, I consider myself a law abiding citizen and taking responsibility for my actions, but this seems a bit expensive. My husband called Auto Europe for the USA and asked them about it. The woman thought it was humerous and stated that they had no authorization to charge our credit card and that they do not own the cars. It is also stated on the violation that we can contest, but if found guilty the fine doubles. It also states that the owner of the car is responsible. Not sure how we are going to handle this. Has anyone else had this experience. We do plan to travel back to Italy (definitely not Pisa). I did read that for EU citizen the police dept can notify their local police dept. Help!

Robespierre

I don't think I'd like to return to a place where the traffic bureau seems to think they're a law unto themselves. Who knows how much the next "infraction" will cost. If the ticket is not satisfied, your passport number will probably be tagged in some database or other, and it could get very, very messy whether you go to Pisa or not.

Yet another reason to not drive in Europe.

Neopolitan

Gee, gbachlondon, the answer seems pretty simple in this case. Since they have told you specifically that the owner of the car is responsible, I'd let them know to bill the owner of the car and wait to hear from them. You aren't the responsible owner of the car, are you?

gbachlondon

No I am not the owner of the car.

gbachlondon

Oh by the way, my letter was in english almost like a form letter. Maybe they generate a lot of income for their city by screwing all those who rent cars.

tcreath

I received a ticket in the mail a few months after we returned from our trip to Germany and Austria last year. Apparently DH was speeding in Salzburg and they took a picture of our licence plates. They sent the ticket to Avis, who in turn forwarded it to us.

We called Avis and were told that it happens all the time and not to worry about it and just throw it out. We have since rented cars with Avis without any problems.

Tracy

Castleblanca

A similar but funny incident happened about 25 years ago to a business associate in the Netherlands. He was a Dutch citizen.

One day two policemen came to his office and told his secretary they needed to speak with him. They went into his private office, they proceeded to tell him they were there about a speeding ticket. They showed him photos taken of him driving his car. The photos also showed a calendar, a clock (for time), and the speedometer of the police car. Finally, the photos showed a female passenger.

The police said they went to his office instead of mailing the ticket to his home, because they were not sure the female passenger was his wife or possibly some lady he knows. They explained they did not want to embarrass him by mailing the ticket and photos to his home, where his wife might have seen everything.

gbachlondon

Thanks Tracy. The rental car was in my husband's name and I could just imagine him being arrested on our next trip to Italy. If the fine was reasonable, I might be more inclined to pay it but 110 euro seems a bit stiff for that kind of violation. I just didn't want it to come back at us and costing us even more money.

kerouac

For anybody who gets a ticket in France, there are only two European countries so far that have a reciprocal payment enforcement agreement: Germany and Luxembourg. Everybody else can still ignore their tickets, unless of course they are stopped in person by the police.

URIELITO1

I would like to know whatever happened with this case???
I Just received the exact same ticket(From "Comune Pisa" and about 9 months after the alleged offense)-It was a rental vehicle - asking me to pay Euro $110,4 for "circulating in a restricted traffic zone w/o authorisation".

Since I am a Canadian citizen who occassionally travel to Europe, what could ever happen if I don't pay this ticket?? Would I get arrested on arrival to any EC Country? Is there any period after which this ticket would get dissmissed? Any help/Advised would be appreciated.

kerouac

Ignore it. Nothing will happen. No Italians will come after you.

I have ignored my tickets when visiting California, land of homeland security, and I still rent cars there without incident.

Dukey

Sad...